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“I was a bit at a loss on how to brew this one up – I’d never done genmaicha in a bag before, and Den’s steeping guidelines for loose tea of this variety call for boiling water and...”
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“When I ordered my Kyusu from Den’s Tea I also ordered their New to Den’s Tea Sampler so I could try a few of their teas. The first one I tried was a delightful Pyramid Teabag filled...”
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“I received this in the sampler package from Den’s Tea. I love the extra matcha in here. It was powdery when I opened the wrapping. This was excellent but I still prefer the whole leaf tea....”
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14 Tasting Notes

I was a bit at a loss on how to brew this one up – I’d never done genmaicha in a bag before, and Den’s steeping guidelines for loose tea of this variety call for boiling water and 30 seconds. In the end I went with boiling water and 90 seconds, and found it flavorful without being bitter at that stage. The aroma is wonderful; really nutty and toasty, with a grassy scent in there too.

The flavor follows that lead, with roasty and toasty up front; reminds me of puffed wheat cereal. Mild astringency, very subtle grassy note. I’ll be interested to see how this compares to Den’s loose leaf of the same variety!

When I ordered my Kyusu from Den’s Tea I also ordered their New to Den’s Tea Sampler so I could try a few of their teas. The first one I tried was a delightful Pyramid Teabag filled with Genmaicha Extra Green. This tea mixes Genmaicha and Matcha for a very green concoction, I like green teas that are vibrantly green, looking at them makes me immensely happy. Opening the wrapper I can certainly smell the Matcha, it is the most dominant aroma, vegetal green and sweet. I am not sure why but the aroma of Genmaicha always makes me a hungry (maybe because it has food in it?) and this is no exception. The rice aroma is roasted and nutty without being overpowering, the different aromas are balanced and not fighting for dominance.

Steeping the bag fills the area with the aroma of fresh grass and toasted rice. The strongest notes are that of the grassy green Matcha, followed by a gentle sweetness and mild umami. The toasted rice gives the tea a bit of a cereal like aroma (hmm, maybe I am just hungry) but it is muted by the Matcha.

The first thing I noticed about the taste is umami, a slight touch of kelp and delicious grassy green. A good beginning to a very pretty tea. The mouth feel is smooth and creamy, it certainly feels good to drink. The next note that I notice is the roasted rice nuttiness, it is not very strong and comes in as a mid to aftertaste. As the tea cools it takes on a slight sweetness and a resemblance to mown hay more than fresh grass. This is a great bagged tea and I look forward to seeing how it compares to the loose version of this tea.

Preparation

I received this in the sampler package from Den’s Tea. I love the extra matcha in here. It was powdery when I opened the wrapping. This was excellent but I still prefer the whole leaf tea. The leaves in this pyramid bag were a tad crushed up. Not bad for a bagged tea :) Convenient to take around too.

I like this green tea. The smell is nutty and the taste is nutty with vegetal notes. I received this tea in my sampler which also included a sencha tea bag which I really didn’t like at all.
Hopefully the loose tea samples will taste as nice as the Genmaicha tea bag. I haven’t drank green tea before so I’m new at this type of tea.

Preparation

This was just one of the many gifts that arrived from Den’s Teas yesterday in their green tea sampler pack. It has been a while since I had a gen mai cha, so I thought I would go the low fuss route and just utilize the version that came already collected in one of their pyramid tea satchels. (Though they also sent unused tea pyramids for the loose tea as well.) It is the same tea as in the loose leaf pack, so I assumed there would be little difference.

This was actually their extra green flavor which means that it was dusted with a heavy portion of matcha, which was great to impart the green tea flavor even with only a relatively short brew time. I did not dive too deeply into flavor exploration as this was a fairly typical gen mai cha. The salty notes and the toasted rice were there, although I did not notice any popcorn kernels in the blend. Ultimately it was a pleasant cup, which would make a very good daily gen mai cha, if you consume japanese tea regularly.

Yet the most remarkable thing about this bag was the longevity of the tea. It yielded 5 cups over a variety of brewing methods and probably could have gone on for more! Part of this is definitely the matcha element, but it was also clear that excellent care was taken in the process of transferring the loose tea into these tiny infusion pyramids. The instructions suggested a brew time of 30 seconds, but I opted to go on for about 45 seconds for my first steep, as I generally like slightly stronger green tea (western taste buds). This was still a bit light for my taste, but definitely sharpened my appetite for more. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th steeps ranged from about 1-4 minutes. I have to say, even when this tea is a bit bitter, it is still very resilient. Again, I think this is a result of the matcha helping to keep any astringency from the sencha in line with the flavor of classic japanese green tea. The final cup was a bit of a blunder. I meant to do a long brew with lukewarm water for the leaves that I expected were well used at this point: about 10 minutes, so that I could keep it in the fridge and mix with fresh water for a tall glass the next morning with breakfast. However, I forgot about it and accidentally left it on the counter overnight. Despite this, the results were pretty much the same. This overnight room temperature steep did not yield nearly the amount of bitter flavors I thought it would.

So after really pushing the limits on this tea, and considering that a box of it is only $5, I would say that you definitely get your money’s worth.

This tea has good personality with an unambiguous smokey roasted aroma and taste. I got more of a roasted walnut experience mingling with charred peppers. The flavor lingers in the mouth longer than most teas I’ve tried, evoking an amusing sensation of exhaling roasty smoke out of the nose. I enjoyed this sample but the astringent aftertaste went on too long for me to put this in my regular rotation. If you like a strong roasted flavor you would enjoy trying this tea.

This is really good. I love genmaicha, even though it is a bit odd because it just yells POPCORN to me. I drank some…and then made popcorn because it induced a craving. That said, this being good green tea, it tastes a bit more like veggies and popcorn. Popped veggies maybe.

Preparation

I recently ordered the green tea sampler for novices from Den’s Tea. I really love that they offer something like this to new customers. It’s only $3 and I got two tea bag samples plus four loose samples plus a booklet. AND they give you a coupon code for $3 off your next order of $15 or more, making the sampler free if you make a purchase later. Fantastic, thanks Den’s!

I’ve been curious about genmaicha for a while now, so this had to be the first one I tried. I actually got both a sachet and a loose sample of this tea, so it’ll be interesting to compare the two. The packet didn’t have brewing instructions and their instructions for genmaicha were tuned for a very small amount of water, so I read through some notes from other people and decided on a two minute steep. The dry sachet smelled mostly of matcha and vegetal green tea and there was quite a bit of matcha dust clinging all over it.

I was amazed by how roasty the brewed tea smelled! It basically smelled like all toasted rice with some of the green tea peeking in from the background. Yum yum! I was so impatient while waiting for this to cool so I could try it! XD I must say, this tea is delicious. It’s an excellent mix of spinachy green tea and asparagus-like matcha with a strong toasted rice flavor in the background, supporting the other flavors. The aftertaste is slightly bitter, but in a pleasant way when combined with the rice. I can’t wait to try all of these other green teas.

(holding off on the rating until I try the loose version!)

Flavors: Asparagus, Bitter, Spinach, Toasted Rice, Vegetal

Preparation

If you don’t like the bitter tones you might want to try a lower water temperature. I’m not sure if this tea was made with bancha or srncha, but bancha especially turns bitter at higher temps.85°C is about the highest temp I use with green tea, but like everything it’s what ever works for you. Glad you enjoyed your first Genmaicha experience.

I believe it is bancha (assuming it’s the same as the loose) but I actually did like that little bit of bitterness at the end. I used the high temperature because that was what was recommended for genmaicha by Den’s. I think there’s enough loose leaf for more than one cup, so I’ll try a comparison of temperatures. :)

Got this in a sampler. I am on the hunt for a genmaicha I can enjoy (toasty but not burned) and not easily mess up (bitter due to oversteeping) but have never tried a blend of genmaicha and matcha. Nor, for that matter, have I ever tried matcha alone! I am a real newbie at green teas. So I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

I love the aroma — very warm and nutty. I’m getting a little bitterness so I may have oversteeped yet again. Like others here, I was working under a best-guess theory based on the loose tea recommendations. The bitterness seems to lessen as the tea cools, or perhaps simply as I get closer to the bottom of the cup (see below re: matcha settling.)

There is more dust than I expected to see in the bottom of the cup. I drained the cup in my final sips and there was no grittiness but there does remain a slight slippery, buttery feel in my mouth that’s actually more interesting than the sipping experience itself so the dust must be primarily matcha that settled.

I plan to try a second steeping and check it after 30 seconds. I guess most of the matcha will have washed out in the first experiment. Later today I’ll try the loose leaf sample.

Probably will not buy this in bags again, but it would be convenient in a pinch and if one knew what to expect ahead of time.

UPDATE: Second steeping.

Well, this is interesting! I poured the boiling water back and forth only once this time so the temperature was probably a bit higher. I sniffed the brew after 30 seconds and decided to go for a bit longer as well. Probably ended up with between 45-60 second on this steep. No bitterness!

It is, as I expected, a bit weaker. I am still seeing a bit of dust at the bottom of the cup. With about 1/2 the liquid gone, and noticing a faint sweetness at the back of my mouth, I swirled the cup to distribute the dust (matcha?) more evenly. Yep, that buttery sensation, more than a real taste, is back with the final two swallows. The toasty flavor disappears quickly, leaving behind an aftertaste only slightly bitter, more like another type of green (kale? collards?) than spinach.

Don’t think I’ll try a third steep, but even more curious now about the loose tea.